by Lance Powers
“That’s why we have to live the way we do now, honey.” Her step-mother patted Regina’s hand. “Earth Gov has to employ these stringent measures to keep humanity from going extinct. We have to make many sacrifices for the survival of our species.”
Regina nodded and ate her sweet noodles in silence. Her father had often spoken of the time before, as did her grandmother before him. New Earth One was everything they said it was, once, and it had all been documented in the archived history of the Human Colonization Effort. Two hundred years ago, in the year 2325, all surviving humans who could flee the dying world of old Earth set off on ships designed for faster-than-light interstellar travel and escaped to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. The NAR or North American Region launched two ships from Earth, one of which carried her ancestors. The escaping vessels travelled many light-years and discovered this planet, naming it New Earth One.
The planet was almost identical to the original Earth. It revolved around a star similar to the Sun of the original Solar System. It was the fifth planet orbiting around the star with a total of eleven, and it also had an almost matching magnetosphere and gravity. Along with that a survivable atmosphere with equal land to water ratio, favorable weather patterns and abundant indigenous flora and fauna. It was a paradise waiting for intelligent life to come and take advantage of. That was almost two hundred years ago.
Now the year was 2525. It was convenient to carry on with the timeline of the original Earth since this planet uncannily rotated on its axis for a measured time of twenty five hours, and did a complete revolution around its sun for exactly three hundred and eighty one of its twenty-five hour days. And the planet had a moon as well, roughly the size of the one the original Earth had, to keep it on a stable axis of twenty nine degrees. These factors alone could make anyone wonder if some kind of divine intervention was involved. But to even think akin to that would go against everything that scientists like Regina Scott and her colleagues stood for.
Nearly a hundred and sixty years after the humans from NAR colonized and settled down on the planet surface, in an area roughly the size of the original Earth’s continent of Australasia, the once conducive environment began to change. Forced to adjust for survival, the population had to devise means that radically altered their way of life. The once free and flourishing society was replaced by one of confinement and constant surveillance. A more rigid Earth Gov was established and the people lived in an artificial self-contained environment running out of resources. Freedom became a commodity with a very high price tag.
Regina sighed and looked at the barcode imprinted on the underside of her left wrist. That was her identity, the one which granted her with a Citizen Classification and an Academic Distinction among the stagnant population of New Earth One. NAR-SD-1013 was her official identification, one that allowed unrestricted access to almost sixteen of the multitude of organized sectors the world was now divided into. Others were not so lucky. Most could only be allowed to access one sector at a time. The old life here that her grandmother and father had often told her of might as well have been a distant dream.
“Help me with the dishes, dear.” Her step-mother’s voice barged into her thoughts.
She rose silently and cleared the table of the few utensils and cutlery a family of three was allotted. Her step-mother didn’t need her to do anything else after that and she sped off to the little corner of the basement that was her father’s lab, and hers too. He was already there, waiting for her. She smiled and keyed in the codes to access the data she had collected on her little excursion that afternoon.
“Run full analysis procedures on all of this data.” She told the computer programs she fed in the reports to.
The programs assessed the data, cross-referencing it with everything in the current databanks. All the usual chemical compositions, the level of minerals and compounds in the air, the effect on the surrounding vegetation, and the native life forms, if any, in the region.
“This is nothing like we have seen before. It appears the environment in this sector, PDZ-18, is at complete odds with the rest of the outside world.” She told her father and punched in a few more commands into the computer.
“How large is the affected area?” He asked her.
“Eighteen square miles, covering the entire eastern side of that hill.” Regina replied. “That hill is where I saw a funny green glow from a cave there, and that creature… it just came right at me.”
“This is amazing, we’ve seen nothing like this in over twenty five years.” Milton Scott exhaled deeply. ““Run cross checks with all the data we have on file for over the last twenty to thirty years.”
After running the cross checks for ten minutes Regina shook her head. “Nothing matches.”
“Nothing?” Her father sighed.
“Let’s try anything we have in the archives from fifty years ago.” Regina pursed her lips, “I have a hunch this discovery may change everything we have ever known…”
“You’ll need my access codes for information that dated.” Milton Scott extended his left arm, holding out his wrist. “Here, run the scanner over my identification code to get in to the encrypted achives.”
She did and accessed the encrypted archives over the network. “Cross-checking year 2490 archived assessment programs with recent data now.”
“Holy Rings of Saturn!” Her father exclaimed, sending a chill all through Regina. “It’s a perfect match with everything in the databanks from forty years ago and before.”
“We’ve found an environmental pocket in the present conditions of how it was before the worldwide contamination…” Regina could hardly contain her exuberance. “We have to discover a way to tap into it… and learn if we can use this to reverse the environmental damage.”
“All in good time, Regina.” Her father hushed her down. “Let’s run a few more scans and analyses… before we come to any definitive conclusions.”
Every scan and analysis they ran for the next hour produced the same results, time after time. Something in that region was preventing the environment from being corrupted into what the rest of the world’s atmosphere had become. There was hope yet, for a better world than the one she had known all her life. Hope for the world her grandmother had spoken of ever so often to be made real again.
“There might be more of such areas…” Her father was saying. “A full scale sweep of the planet might show us if they exist.”
“This is big.” She looked at him excitedly. “Is there a way we can use this… is it possible to have this all over the world?”
“We need to do more research.” Milton Scott replied pensively. “Others will have to corroborate our findings. Earth Gov needs to know of this… and take the measures needed.”
“They would already have known.” She shook her head. “They have eyes and ears on everything.”
“They would.” Her father agreed. “But nevertheless, we will send in an official report with a priority seal, and sign our names on it.”
“Consider it done.” She keyed in the required codes to launch such a report.
“Excellent.” The balding man grinned at her.
Regina nodded. “And now we wait.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. The possibilities were endless. The entire world could be reverted to what it was before. When humanity first settled on this world, it was so much like the Earth they had escaped from that they had no reason to feel like it was an alien planet. New Earth One was everything humanity needed and more. And to be able to bring that back in her lifetime would be an achievement worth the effort. The work required to do that would be staggering, and expensive. But before any of that could happen, this discovery would have to be researched further. If it turned out to be only a localized anomaly or a system glitch, everything would have been in vain.
“Incoming call.” The computer announced. “Priority line. Science Division.”
“That was fast.” Her father chuckled.
; “Bring online.” Regina instructed the machine.
“Doctor Regina Scott.” A voice crackled through the cyber comm. “I understand you are in charge of mapping the PDZ hub of sectors.”
“I am, Doctor Ness.” Regina nodded at the flickering image of her superior at the research facility. “Have you read my report, sir?”
“Yes, of course, Doctor Scott.” Ness smiled tightly. “And so has Doctor Keller.”
If the Director of the Science Division, Hartman Keller, was informed, Regina could tell that this discovery was phenomenal. This could completely revolutionize the world and she would be at the heart of that change.
“I hope that Director Keller will approve of my proposal to further study this discovery, at its exact location.” She inquired, suppressing her excitement with some effort.
“Yes, he does.” Ness went on. “We have discussed this in length and have agreed that you, Doctor Regina Scott, will join the team to the site to further this research. First rights to credit will go to you, naturally.”
“Thank you, Doctor Ness.” Regina beamed at her father. “When do I have to report for the mission?”
“You will be briefed shortly.” The image on the screen began to flicker more rapidly and fade away. “Well done and I wish you the very best.”
“This is it, Daddy.” Regina threw her arms around her father’s neck. “…our first step to setting things right.”
“Yes, precious, yes.” Her father exulted and lifted her high into the air. “And it’s all you. We are all so proud of you, our little baby.”
Chapter Two
‘NAR-AX-0010 Garth Andrew Evans.’ The readout on the identifiers of his favored choice of weapon, a pair of rapid-fire handguns, confirmed his ownership. No one else but he could use these plasma-fire killing machines.
“Colonel Evans, sir.” The voice of his second-in-command, Kimberly Danish, buzzed in his earpiece. “The ground here looks clean; there are no tracks or traces of anyone being here.”
“It sure does, Captain Danish.” He told her. “That means they have done an excellent job and we are up against some real competition this time.”
“Affirmative, sir.” The redhead with the freckled face touched the upper rim of her helmet. Six feet tall and powerfully built, the twenty-nine year old made a fine second in command on many of their recon missions around the planet. Kimberly Danish was perfect for any kind of hazardous operation. “Better get everyone to bring their A-game to the max.” She said.
“I wouldn’t tolerate anything less.” He replied and scanned the horizon. The sun was almost overhead. One of the twin planets named after an ancient Old Earth legendary mythological messenger god, Mercury, was making a sizeable cavity across the Sun’s blazing face. His armored exo suit kept the radiation surrounding him filtered and also fed him environmental data that he could use for tactical advantage. This training session was routine daily exercise. But today was important. His team, the best so far, were up against an adversary almost as good. Colonel Harkens and his girls and boys were proving to be a handful that morning.
“This is where they’d be holing up, Colonel.” Frank Parson, the youngest of his team at nineteen stated with a confident nod of his head. He had shown great promise in every simulation exercise so far and Garth decided it was time to break in the blond, blue eyed boy with some hands on action that afternoon.
“And why’d you be thinking that, son?” He asked the excited trainee.
“Strategic advantage, Sir. The landscape’s rather hard packed and simple to defend with all these natural protective rock formations. To attack them here will have us at a disadvantage with all this open killing ground to cover.”
“Good observation, Corporal Parson, but wrong.” Kimberly Danish stepped in. “From here we have the higher ground, and that gives anyone attacking the best advantage in any fire fight.”
“Yep, setting up a defense down there is as good as holing up in a death trap.” Captain Joel Willis, a broad shouldered young man of twenty six years, dark haired and green eyed, ace pilot and the final member of his team added. “Live and learn, rookie.”
“That’s the idea, flyboy.” Parson grinned behind his visor. “So where then Colonel Harkens and his grunts should be hiding to ambush us?”
“Somewhere up there.” Garth answered the boy. “…along that tree-lined ridge. That’s where I’d be lying in wait.”
The others nodded silently and suddenly the air around them seemed to charge up. Garth knew from experience that it was the adrenaline surging in anticipation of a showdown. The area was tricky indeed and Harkens would make a decent fight out of this. His keen steel grey eyes surveyed the area, picking up every detail, every little bit of data that could give him the upper hand here. He found one, and gestured to his team. Like silent serpents they made their way along the tree line, keeping to the shadows.
“Reflectors.” He whispered through the comm. link.
Before him, his team members began to slowly fade away as their exo suits’ outer shells turned transparent and mirrored all light back. He keyed in a command that allowed him to see them using their indentifying codes. The enemy did not have access to this information, but they too could be using this tactic, and Garth didn’t have access to their codes either.
The ground underfoot was hard and free of gravel, sort of like cooled lava and igneous in composition. That was good. It allowed them sure and silent footing. But as the invisible team approached the tree line, the ground got more pliable and muddy. He raised his hand signaling the team to stay motionless. Harkens and his fellows were nearby, but still out of their line of sight. They too were using reflectors and possibly even anti-infra-red shielding. Garth switched filters in his visor from heat sensors to pressure counters and then to air vibrations.
There, he felt it. That tell tale shift in the atmospheric pressure that came from the air bending around an animated object. The enemy was not up in the trees as he had anticipated, but on the ground, within a few meters. He glanced back at his team. Willis and Danish silently nodded their acknowledgment of his discovery. Garth raised his hand and his second in command unleashed a sonic shockwave from her vibrato-cannon.
Four armored figures wearing the colors of the enemy suddenly appeared before them, helplessly thrown up in the air by the sonic boom. Two of them were drawing their guns and twisting into position mid-air to fire back.
“Now!” Garth yelled, diving to his right and sending a hail of rapid plasma fire up into the air. “All guns blazing.”
He hit his prized target, Colonel Harkens, several times, rendering the wearer’s exo suit powerless. Danish and Willis also hit their targets with desired effect, disabling them. Harkens was down to Garth’s precision shooting, but one of his team took out Parson. The youthful rookie went down, his exo suit shutting off on impact. Garth knocked Parson’s assailant down with a single shot to the head before she could realign her target scope on him.
Their firepower was lethal and primed to kill. The exo-suits they wore were coded in with the weapons’ signatures allowing every shot on target to be absorbed and only disabled motor functions of the exo suits for ten seconds upon being hit. If their enemy were real and this an actual battle, none of them hit would have survived.
“Four to One.” Danish let out a whoop. “Go Team Evans.”
“Good job, Apes.” Harkens stood up and stretched his back. “You got yourself a crack team there, Evans.”
“So do you, Harkens.” Garth shook the other man’s hand. “Longest we needed to track and neutralize a team.”
“Ready for a rematch next week?” One of Harkens’ team, the girl who took out his rookie, smiled wide.
“You bet your sweet booty, babe.” Parson nodded his head vigorously.
“Corporal, you’re out of line.” Garth rebuked the excited youth.
“Sir, sorry, sir.” The blond boy stiffened and touched the rim of his helm.
“Ah, Jen and her booty
don’t mind at all.” Harkens laughed. “It’s all good.”
“Okay then.” Garth raised his hand in salute. “We will see you all inside at meal time. Move out, team.”
Jet powered boots in full blast, Garth and the three members of his team skimmed over the arid landscape, doing almost fifteen miles a minute. Their base at the Naval Sector was about a hundred miles away from there and would take less than six minutes to reach. Harkens and his team sped off at an angle of forty five degrees from them toward their own base.
They arrived at the checkpoint right on schedule. Garth stepped up to the retina scanner and placed his left palm on the illuminated sensor panel beside the doorway. NAR-AX-0010 Garth Andrew Evans, the security computers confirmed his identity and status. He had been a soldier for eighteen years, exactly half of his life. Another two more years and he could call in his retirement. But he was a career soldier and he planned to volunteer for another twelve more years of service and probably make Admiral by the end of it. In the near twenty years from a trainee to a fully decorated Colonel, Evans was a soldier of the highest caliber; the prefect soldier always ready for a war. Though there was yet to be one in the two hundred year history of New Earth One.
“Colonel Evans.” A feminine voice sputtered through his comm. link. “You are to report for a mission briefing at High Command immediately.”
“Acknowledged.” He nodded into the microphone, and then turned to his team. “Proceed to your quarters. I’ll be seeing you again at meal time.”
The three nodded and marched off through the wide corridors toward the barracks. Garth watched them go for a few seconds then turned in the direction of the Naval High Command. A mission briefing, he mused. If only it was something real this time. Eighteen years was too long for a soldier to just be playing at war.
***
The naval sectors were the largest of all the sectors on New Earth One. Most of the equipment from the massive space ships that were used to escape Earth were salvaged and redesigned to build the defensive positions before they implemented the rest for heavy industry and construction for habitation. The planet’s abundant resources when humans first settled provided all the raw material needed for the colonization to be a resounding success. That success had begun to deteriorate rapidly from the year 2485, four years before he was born.
